My old roommates came over to my house for the first time since I moved (June!) and got to see Toby. =) He was great and never gave anyone any cause for concern. We played with him a little bit and then when we all started to talk and hang out, Toby was either chewing on his nylabone or conked out asleep in the floor.

Almost 400 sample bags of dog food were donated to me yesterday by the local pet store...mostly TOTW, but also some Innova, Cal Natural, Canidae, Chicken Soup and others...opening and dumping into dog food bins now...*grin*

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

TheRedQueen wrote:Almost 400 sample bags of dog food were donated to me yesterday by the local pet store...mostly TOTW, but also some Innova, Cal Natural, Canidae, Chicken Soup and others...opening and dumping into dog food bins now...*grin*

Thats awesome!

Not only am I a member of the Michelle says my dog is fat club I'm the president!I can Alpha Roll hair!

Allen and I are going to visit his mother next Tuesday night and stay the night. Since my Mom is gone, she couldn't take care of Toby for me. My good friend Lindsey came over today to see Toby again (they've become pretty good friends!) and I'm leaving her my key to feed him and let him out. We're all feeling very confident that he will be just fine for her. It's such a relief to have the REAL Toby back!

We also had a great vet appointment Friday and his rabies titer will be back in a couple weeks. He has an updated rabies tag in the meantime, regardless, and I don't know how I will ever find a vet I like this much again!

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

I'm still not really sure. And he's definitely not perfect old Toby again, by any means. But he is significantly better.

I've finally learned to stop obsessing over the whys and hows and just focus on the results and what I'm living with. I know before the homeopathic treatments, I couldn't even take him to the bank drive through anymore because he got worked up at a woman in a car over from us. I couldn't let him outside when there were people nearby as he would go ballistic. He is now accepting visitors (just a few select people, I haven't wanted to move too quickly) and waltzing into the vet office to get love from whoever happens to be standing closest. He lazily wags his tail at my neighbors standing outside. I can walk down the street with him and he doesn't scream at everyone in sight. Today no one was closer than 20 feet, but that's still huge for us.

I have no idea what caused the initial switch. Maybe there is still something physically wrong with him that didn't show up on tests and the homeopathic treatment is just helping some, I don't know. I'm not quick to forget his physical symptoms that had him down for a couple of weeks. He was an empty shell during these times, not eating, responding to me or my mom (his "grammy" whom he adores). But I'm just thankful everyday I spend with him that I can have Allen or my friend Lindsey over, and it's not a huge stressful ordeal.

Oscar went through a period of unpredictable guarding behavior (much amplified over his usual, which I find acceptable), about 4-5 yrs ago. It was pretty extreme - he'd pick people that would surprise me (so I was pretty sure I wasn't passing my mood or apprehension on to him) and the reaction was quite strong on a few occaisions - we were concerned. We ran a full geri panel on him and found nothing. I did some minor training - a little positive, a little not, and after a couple months it was as if it had never happened - our only reminder is the memories of those highly unpleasant occaisions.So I kind of "get" what you're going through, though it sounds like Toby's issues aren't entirely overcome and were a fair bit more, severe.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

Really? That's interesting. How old was Oscar? I agree, Toby did target some people that I would never have guessed. Toby's issues were quite severe. =( I had a very good friend that I trust immensely evaluate him and I kept her up to date and everyone else I talked to about him, before this vet, euthanasia was an option and everything was looking pretty grim. But for whatever reason, he is doing better, so I just keep training and try to not let small set backs upset me. =)

I should add that he has had guarding tendencies since he was about 3, and still does, but apart from that little phase I have always considered them appropriate(I can describe if you want), and I still do. This is one of the reasons I strongly suspect his AmBull heritage.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

We're doing some last minute dog sitting for a very good friend of mine. His pit pup is 10 months old and I'm thrilled to see such a well socialized dog from someone I honestly didn't think would be a pit-savvy owner. That was pleasant surprise #1. Pleasant surprise #2 was today, when we had a meet and greet with Nadia and Kia. Nadia never worries me, she loves every dog she meets. Kia is a bit picky about other dogs, and has some reactive behaviors when on leash. First, I introduced Nadia, and when that went swimmingly, I put her back inside and brought out Kia. Kia went right to the new dog, barking her head off. Jamo flopped over and Kia was immediately bored with him. After lots of treats, I brought Nadia back out, and all 3 were having a grand time running around the yard together, as if they had known each other for years. Of course I am still going to be super cautious, but I really was so proud of Kia!! I wish all the people that think she is "scary" could see how good she was!